2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[Blue-Jay]

So when you have two or more distinct seed variations, I assume the goal is to return those that resemble the original seed. From what I've gathered from here and from @Blue-Jay's site the offspring (?) would be referred to as having the original as a seed parent? What if those variations prohibit sending back the minimum sixty seeds? So far I have three varieties showing noticable differences and one variety has four. I planted 4-8 seeds of each variety.

Also have a question about growing the varieties that didn't produce a sufficient amount this year or produced variations from the original. Because of the wet spring I did either transplants or pre-sprouted seed for all Network varieties and saved at least half of them for backup. Next year should I plant the original seed separate from what I harvested if it appears true to type and shows no variations? If I chose to plant the variations to see if they stabilize, what kind of information should I keep track of other than the seed parent?

I think @heirloomgal answered the questions I was going to comment on.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I am thinking this bean I grew simply named 'Mohawk Pole' is actually 'Kahnawake Mohawk'. Does it appear that to be the case?

I would say it sure looks like Khanawake Mohawk is exactly what you have.

 

[SusanneinHastings]

I forgot, I did find the packet for the tasty yellow wax beans, they are not a no-ID, they are Top Notch Golden Wax, which the internet tells me is a Rogers 1957 introduction. The seed has soldier bean markings, which I dimly noticed when I planted them, usually. I end up with Cherokee Wax. Which has I think black seed. And the Menards rack has the Cherokee Wax when I looked this week, so I don’t know how I ended up with these, But the household likes them much better!

Now though I am puzzled why Andikove has soldier bean marking and is not a yellow pod bean too. I guess they don’t go together.

View attachment 77823

 

[SusanneinHastings]

I am thinking this bean I grew simply named 'Mohawk Pole' is actually 'Kahnawake Mohawk'. Does it appear that to be the case?

it looks like Kahnawake is the name of a First Nations territory in Quebec so perhaps that was someone’s source originally. I got it from Great Lakes Staple Seed under that name but several Canadian companies call it that as well.

 

[flowerbug]

@SusanneinHastings Top Notch beans were our favorite wax beans for several years in a row. then i tried several other wax beans but none of them seemed to do as well as Top Notch.

 

[Branching Out]

Some non-network beans coming ready too. The only one I have not seen so far is the Tarbais, unless I have somehow confused it with the Gigantes, because if is next to them. Also the Gigantes don’t seem as big as I remember from Greece, although of course there are different conditions here.

I have harvested dry pods from every main season cultivar in my garden except for Tarbais-- so you're in good company. It must need longer than what is typical. The Tarbais pole bean plants are gorgeous though, with lush foliage.

 

[ruralmamma]

Sorry, but still more questions. If a particular plant has entirely different offspring than the seed planted, am I correct in assuming that cross happened in a prior year? If there's an occasional pod showing different traits/appearances on an otherwise normal plant, that could be a result of either a previous year or the current one? Trying to wrap my head around the genetics.

I know a plant (pinto for instance) can throw out a pod with reverse coloration but it rarely comes true with subsequent plantings. I'm discovering this with the black and white speckled seeds saved from Ground Squirrel (non Network) last year as to date, all of the seeds harvested resemble the original variety and not the speckled variation. But in two instances I have an entire plant that is producing offspring that in no way resembles the parent.

If anyone can recommend a book or website that would delve a bit into bean genetics for dummies, I'd appreciate it.

This is Avalon and the seed I've harvested from it. All pods have been striped and curled.

Here is seed from the pods that were entirely purple

 

[Branching Out]

This book by Carol Deppe has excellent information on vegetable breeding. Each winter I take it out of the library in an effort to learn a bit more, as the genetics are complex and more than I can digest in one go. https://www.chelseagreen.com/produc...noMWHnr9FnM2kD3bXQkJV7XLtRVUDm9Xlmp6J1qlKdM76

 

[oxbow farm]

Sorry, but still more questions. If a particular plant has entirely different offspring than the seed planted, am I correct in assuming that cross happened in a prior year? If there's an occasional pod showing different traits/appearances on an otherwise normal plant, that could be a result of either a previous year or the current one? Trying to wrap my head around the genetics.

In beans, the seedcoat is always maternal tissue, and the size and shape of the seed is controlled by the mother plant as well. So the offspring seed of a cross will look like seed of the parent variety, Avalon in your case. It would technically be F1 hybrid seed.

When you plant that seed, the offspring that you would see from it would be F2 generation from the cross, assuming that no additional crosses occurred in the F1 generation. They would be segregating for the traits of the two parent varieties and should show different seed coats and plant habits depending on the parents and how dissimilar they were. Crossing two pinto varieties might not be that noticeable. But any visible variations would only show up the year AFTER the original cross.

 

[Million Bells]

Sorry, but still more questions. If a particular plant has entirely different offspring than the seed planted, am I correct in assuming that cross happened in a prior year? If there's an occasional pod showing different traits/appearances on an otherwise normal plant, that could be a result of either a previous year or the current one? Trying to wrap my head around the genetics.

I know a plant (pinto for instance) can throw out a pod with reverse coloration but it rarely comes true with subsequent plantings. I'm discovering this with the black and white speckled seeds saved from Ground Squirrel (non Network) last year as to date, all of the seeds harvested resemble the original variety and not the speckled variation. But in two instances I have an entire plant that is producing offspring that in no way resembles the parent.


Here is seed from the pods that were entirely purple

View attachment 77856

The second one looks like the reversed colors, instead of different genetics.